Yesterday I noticed that the AI might not be using the same rules to move by rail... not a complaint, but just want to confirm

What I saw: An AI British unit was in Taiping, which has a rail line. The unit was in "combat" mode (I confirmed this by loading the turn again as Allies) Next turn, as soon as my troops arrived, it was now gone, and by the length of the distance covered, it had to move by rail

Is it fair to say that AI won't need to change to strategic deployment to move by rail?

The AI does not operate by the same rules you do on the human side. One of the interesting things about playing it. SAGs appear out of nowhere and sudden invasions materialize where you're sure you'd covered all search vectors. I haven't played any of the newly revised versions, but in the old ones it was certainly tricksy.

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"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

but is naval search, not naval FIND. so a CL and 2 DDs somehow appear off Pago Pago through 3 different search arcs. we remember that. but all the times the catalinas spotted a small TF that then turned back out of range. we don't recall those.

lots of things happen we dont realise(till it blows up)

great game.

rms/pa

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there is a technical term for those who confuse the opinions of an author's characters for the opinions of the author. the term is IDIOT.

When the AI needs some forces to initiate a routine, these forces can be warped to the starting location independent of the normal move rates.

What this means is that if one of the AI start points is within your search arc, you can see forces materialize ... an unfortunate feature of the AI. But once you know what is causing it, easy to mitigate and continue play.

So, in general, the AI moves the same way you do for 99% of the moves. But every once in a while, there will be some warping. Not cheating per se, just trying to achieve the intent of the routine becuase the AI can't plan far enough ahead to have the forces where it needs them when it needs them. Nothing sinister.

For the Naval Search part of this, maybe it will help (with suspension of disbelief for those few times when it does occur) to remember that Mikawa split a seam of search arcs on the way to Savo I.? Not completely congruent, I realize, but perhaps balm for the outraged spirit...

When the AI needs some forces to initiate a routine, these forces can be warped to the starting location independent of the normal move rates.

What this means is that if one of the AI start points is within your search arc, you can see forces materialize ... an unfortunate feature of the AI. But once you know what is causing it, easy to mitigate and continue play.

So, in general, the AI moves the same way you do for 99% of the moves. But every once in a while, there will be some warping. Not cheating per se, just trying to achieve the intent of the routine becuase the AI can't plan far enough ahead to have the forces where it needs them when it needs them. Nothing sinister.